Clothes drier



May 20, 1952 A. w. LUNDSTRUM CLOTHES DRIER 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 28, 1947 JNVENTOR. Alia)? W Lundsfrum. BY

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ATTORNEYS.

May 20, 1952 A. W. LUNDSTRUM CLOTHES DRIER 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 28, 1947 INVENTOR. 1411a)? N Lundsfrum,

May 20, 1952 A. w. LUNDSTRUM CLOTHES DRIER 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed June 28, 1947 IN VEN TOR. fllla'n M Lunc/sfrum, Y

ATTORNEYS.

Patented May 20, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CLOTHES DRIER AllanW. Lundstrum, Andersen, Ind Application June as, 1947, Serial No. 757,778

(Cl. ill-.100)

.0 Claims.

The present invention relates to an improved clothes drying mechanism.

Objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part hereinafter and in part will be obvious herefrom, or may be learned by practice with the invention, the same being realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations pointed out in the appended claims.

The invention consists in the novel parts, constructions, arrangements, combinations, and improvements herein shown and described.

The accompanying drawings, referred to herein and constituting a part hereof, illustrate an embodiment of the invention, and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

Of the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a typical and illustrative embodiment of the clothes drier of the present invention; q

Fig.- 2 is a side elevation of the embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 1 with the clothes supports in raised or drying position;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 1; I

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary cross-sectional View showing in detail the clothes supports and the supporting means therefor in raised or clothes drying position;

Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. l with the clothes supports and supporting means therefor in folded or down-position;

Fig. 7 is a detail cross sectional view taken along line 'l'! of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a detail cross-sectional view taken along line 8-8 of Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a detail cross-sectional view taken along line 9+9 of Fig. 6;

Fig. 10 is a view partly in elevation and partly in cross section ofan embodiment of the invention having modified clothes supporting arms and supporting means therefor;

Fig. 11 is a detail cross-sectional view taken along line IIFH of Fig. 10;

Fig. 12 is a fragmentary side elevation of the embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 10 with the clothes supports and their supporting means in raised position; and,

Fig. 13 is a detail cross-sectional view taken along line l3--l3 of Fig. 10.

The invention has for an object the provision of an eiiicient. and economical clothes drying mechanism principally adapted for use around the home. The invention provides a drier which may be easily extended to hold clothes or other objects for drying in a position with respect to a heated air source for efficient drying action, and may be conveniently folded out of the way when not in use. Another object is the provision of a clothes drier of simple and eflicient construction which may be made a permanent part of a stove or other heat source and is sightly and unobtrusive when folded and not in use.

Referring now in detail to the illustrative embodiments of the invention shown by way of ex! ample in the accompanying drawings, and referring first to the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 9 inclusive, a clothes supporting means is shown as permanently attached to a source of heated air such as the wall heater indicated generally by the numeral 28. The heater 2!] is of the type disclosed in my copending patent .application Serial No. 757,776, filed June 28, 1947, and is positioned in a wall 21 in the 1101119. Such a heater has gas fired heating air heating means within its outer casing 22, and said casing is provided with lower louvres 23 through which air enters the heater, and upper louvres 24 through which heated air is returned to the room. The clothes supports of the present invention are adapted to be movably supported on casing 22 so that they may be moved to a position to utilize the current of warmed air from louvres 26 to dry the articles suspended from them.

As shown, the clothes supporting means comprise a plurality of cylindrical clothes-supports 25 which as best shown in Fig. 5, are provided with spherical plugs 26 at their outer ends and flattened plugs 27 at their inner ends. The supports 25 are individually foldably mounted on a transverse supporting bar 28 of U-cross section, and the bar 28 is provided with angled end members 29 whereby it is carried by a pair of support ing arms 39 which are mounted onthe heater casing 20, at their other ends, by means of trunnions or pivot bearing assemblies. As shown in detail in Figsr5 and 9 ofthe drawings, a shaft 3| is provided withinthe bar 28, is supported by L- and U-shaped spacingmembers 32 and 33 respectively, and extends through suitable apertures in the flattened plug members 27 ofthe clothes supports, whereby the latter are pivotally mounted on shaft 3| as an axis. The transverse bar 28 is provided with a plurality of slotsor relieved places 34- along its length corresponding to the placement of clothes supports 25, and such places accommodate the ends 21 of the clothes supports when the latter are in folded or retracted position as shown in Fig. 1. When the clothes supports are in their raised and extended position, as shown in Fig. 2, the unrelieved edge 35 of bar 28 (Fig. maintains the supports in horizontal position to hold the articles to be dried.

Means are provided for engaging the ends of clothes supports 25 when they are in folded position to secure them against accidental extension out into the room. As shown in Figs. 1 and 4, such means comprise a transverse bar 31 curved at either end and secured thereat to a respective one of the supporting arms 30. A longitudinally extending bracket 38 is affixed to bar 31, and the bracket is provided with spaced deformed places or detents 39 into which the spherical plug members 26 may be snapped when the clothes supports 25 are in folded position.

The trunnion elements whereby arms 39 are pivotally mounted on heater casing 20 each comprises a trunnion support or plate 40 (Fig. '7) secured by screws 4| to an upper side wall of casing 20, and said plate is centrally apertured to receive the trunnion shaft 42 removably held thereon by a nut 43. The enlarged head 44 of trunnion shaft 42 holds in position a cylindrical cap member 45 a portion of the cylindrical wall of which is relieved through a substantial arc as indicated at 4! (Fig. 8) to receive the end of a respective supporting arm 39. As shown, each hollow, flattened supporting arm 39 is provided with a reinforcing plug 59 in its end held by means of rivets 5|, and the plug and arm are provided with a central slotted aperture 52 to receive the trunnion shaft 42. An extension portion 53 is provided on the end of each end plug 50 for an arm 39, which is adapted to be received in an aperture 53 through the cylindrical wall of cap 45. Said aperture 53 for each cap 45 is so located that the extension 53 will be inserted therein when the arms 39 have been raised to their position extending outwardly and upwardly from casing 29, and the slotted aperture 52 in each arm 30 permits this locking movement for the arm.

' It will be apparent that the arms 39 may be conveniently raised and locked in position, and that one or more of the clothes supports 25 may then be disengaged from bracket 38 and folded out onto extended position substantially horizontally to the floor of the room. With the clothes supports in such position it will be seen that articles hung thereon will be positioned in the current of warm air which comes out of the heater upper louvres 24, carries outwardly from the heater into the room for a considerable distance, and then is upwardly directed toward the ceiling. The clothes supports, and the current of warm air directed past them as described, are unobstructed to all sides and above and below, so that quantities of room air may be entrained with the heated air from louvres 24 and increase the drying action upon the articles supported.

The clothes supports 25 may be easily folded back into their retracted and held position, and the arms 39 disengaged and dropped by first pulling upwardly and outwardly to disengage extensions 53 from apertures 53', and then allowing them to pivot about shafts 42. The clothes supporting apparatus is then in a folded condition lying out of the way along the front and side surfaces of casing 29, but ready for use when needed.

The embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. 10 to 13 of the drawings is similar to the embodiment just described, the principal difference being that the clothes supports 55 are rigidly held with respect to each other so that they are all folded outwardly or retracted together. As shown, arms 56 are provided with trunnion elements 51 entirely similar to that already described for the first embodiment of the invention. Angle end members 58 are provided for the arms 56, having journalled therein shafts 59 which extend into the transverse clothes support carrier 50, shafts 59 being held to rotate therewith by means ofpins 6|. As shown in Fig. 10, the supports 55 are threaded into the transverse shaft 60, and are all turned together when the latter rotates with respect to arm end members 58. The means for supporting the shaft 60 to hold the clothes supports in a horizontal position comprise threaded pins 62 in shafts 59, which turn in a slotted aperture 63 through a portion of the cylindrical walls of arm end members 58. When the supports 55 are turned into extended position, the pins 62 engage shoulders 65 at the ends of slots 63, thus preventing carrier 60 from further rotation.

The invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific mechanisms shown and described but departures may be made therefrom, within the scope of the accompanying claims, without departing from the principles of the invention and without sacrificing its chief advantages.

What I claim is: 1. A clothes drier comprising, in combination, a pair of spaced, pivotally mounted arms, a plurality of clothes supports, supporting means interconnecting said arms, means pivotally mounting each of said supports on said supporting means for individual pivotal movement in planes substantially parallel to the planes of pivotal movement of said arms, and means interconnecting said arms and adapted to be engaged by the free ends of said clothes supports to hold them in folded position.

2. A clothes drier comprising, in combination, a substantially U-shaped frame having a pair of parallel arms and a cross bar, means for pivotally mounting said frame at the free ends of said arms, means to hold the frame in an upwardly inclined position, a plurality of clothes supports spaced along said cross bar and pivotally mounted thereon for movement with respect to said frame in planes generally parallel to the planes in which the arms pivot, and means to hold the clothes supports in a generally horizontal position when the frame is in its upwardly inclined position.

3. A clothes drier comprising, in combination. a substantially U-shaped frame having a pair of parallel arms and a cross bar, means for pivotally mounting said frame at the free ends of said arms for movement between a folded position wherein said arms depend substantially vertically from said mounting means to an extended position whereon said arms extend upwardly and to the side of said mounting means, means for locking said arms in said extended position, a plurality of clothes supports spaced along said cross bar and pivotally mounted thereon for movement between a folded position wherein said supports are substantially parallel to said arms and an extended position wherein said supports extend beyond the ends of said arms, and means to hold the clothes supports in said extended position.

4. A clothes drier comprising, in combination, a substantially U-shaped frame having a pair of parallel arms and a cross bar, means for pivotally mounting said frame at the free ends of said arms for movement between a folded position wherein said arms depend substantially vertically from said mounting means to an extended position whereon said arms extend upwardly and to the side of said mounting means, means for locking said arms in said extended position, a plurality of clothes supports spaced along said cross bar and pivotally mounted thereon for movement between a folded position wherein said supports are substantially parallel to said arms and an extended position wherein said supports extend beyond the ends of said arms, and means limiting pivotal movement of said supports in both directions so that said arms may be held in said extended position at the limit of their movement in one direction and in folded position at the limit of their movement in the opposite direction.

5. A clothes drier for use with a wall heating unit having a casing extending outwardly from a wall and hot air outlet means adjacent the top of the casing, said drier comprising a substantially U-shaped frame having a pair of side arms and a connecting cross bar the major portion of the length of which is displaced from the plane including said side arms, means forupivotally mounting said frame at the free ends of said arms on said casing adjacent the top thereof,

a plurality of clothes supports spaced along said cross bar and pivotally mounted thereon, and means to limit the extent of pivotal movement of said supports.

6. A clothes drier for use with a wall heating unit having a casing extending outwardly from a wall and hot air outlet means adjacent the top of the casing, said drier comprising a substantially U-shaped frame having a pair of side arms and a connecting cross bar the major portion of the length of which is displaced from the plane including said side arms, means for pivotally mounting said frame at the free ends of said arms on said casing adjacent the top thereof, a plurality of clothes supports spaced along said cross bar and pivotally mounted thereon, a support securing bar mounted on and extending between said side arms the major portion of the length of which is displaced from the plane including said side arms, and means on said securing bar for engaging the free ends of said clothes supports.

7. A clothes drying rack for attachment to a heater having a hot air outlet along the upper portion of the front wall thereof comprising, a pair of parallel arms, a pair of pivot bearings adapted to be secured to the side walls of the heater, said bearings forming pivots for the corresponding ends of said arms and having means for locking the arms in an upwardly andoutwardly extending position, a member connecting the other ends of said arms, and a plurality of clothes supports pivotally mounted on said member, and means limiting the pivotal movement of said supports to a substantially horizontal position when said arms are in their upwardly and outwardly extending position, whereby clothes hanging on said supports will be held above and spaced from the hot air outlets of the heater.

8. The combination set forth in claim 7 in which the member connecting the arms is rigidly secured to the arms, and the supports are connected to the member for limited pivotal movement in generally vertical planes.

9. The combination set forth in claim 8 in which detent means are provided to hold the supports when moved to positions in which they are generally parallel to the arms.

10. A clothes drying rack for attachment to a heating apparatus having a heated air outlet in the upper portion thereof, including a pivoted bail structure comprising a pair of arms having their free ends pivotally mounted and having means to lock the arms in an upwardly and outwardly extending position and a cross bar connecting the arms, clothing supporting elements pivotally mounted on the cross bar of the bail structure and having means to limit their pivotal movement to a generally horizontal position when the bail structure is held inits upwardly and outwardly extending position, and detent means secured to the arms to hold said supporting elements in folded position in substantial parallelism with the bail arms.

ALLAN W. LUNDSTRUM.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 89,031 Danner Apr. 20, 1869 94,598 Heath Sept. 7, 1869 160,359 Smith Mar. 2, 1875 210,177 Wing Nov. 19, 1878 283,728 Ward Aug. 21, 1883 433,196 Brickley July 29, 1890 1,389,984 Reed Sept. 6, 1921 1,419,822 Corbe June 13, 1922 1,442,395 Gmeinwieser Jan. 16, 1923 1,466,859 Sutton Sept. 4, 1923 2,393,056 Noblitt et al *Jan. 15. 1946 

